Planey McPlaneface
ADB-160323#160
As the Boaty McBoatface feeding frenzy continues, I can’t help but think of a book called Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds. It’s an old antique, written in 1841, given to me by a friend who’s dad ran an old bookstore in Winnipeg. Here’s an excerpt:
Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, and one by one.
The citizens of the internet are like a giant, unwieldy tool. They can be used to create or destroy—sometimes both at the same time. After all, these are the same netizens who have given us both LOLcats and 4chan. While I truly love the Boaty McBoatface story, I still get nervous in the presence of such power.
As I writer, I want readership. But there are some nights when I go to sleep with an ill-defined dread, like a low-grade fever. I am afraid. Afraid that I might have said too much. Afraid that I said too little. Afraid of the response. Afraid of my response to the response. Afraid of being liked too much. Afraid of not being liked enough. But most of all, I’m afraid of being irrelevant. And that’s what gets me up every morning to write more.
To paraphrase The [All-Day] Breakfast Club (something everyone should watch to understand white, middle-class GenXers):
—What did the internet do to you?
—They ignored me…
TPlease recommend if you are a brain, an athlete, a basket case, a princess, or a criminal.
